Swaggering Teesside Steelers are out for National Three Grand Final victory, having firmly pitched their stake in the English rugby league landscape.

Steelers finished second in the inaugural regular season behind Bradford Dudley Hill having made a massive impression on the division.

The top two met in the play-offs in West Yorkshire this afternoon, with the winner going straight to the September 14 showpiece and the loser to the semi-final, from which they will have a second chance to qualify for the big match.

Club chiefs and players are determined to win the competition having progressed so far but are delighted with the way the campaign has panned out regardless.

"We've performed way above expectations and proved a lot of people wrong," said player-coach Phil Gowing.

"Obviously we've got this far and we want to win the thing, but if someone had said to me we would finish second before the season started I would've laughed at them.

"We've gone to rugby league heartlands like Sheffield and Huddersfield and won, places where people didn't even know that we play rugby league on Teesside.

"Dudley Hill are an established name and have 50 local lads turning up for training, with about 40 of them good enough to start.

"Our players come from Teesside, Cumbria, York, Huddersfield and Tyneside, which sometimes makes it difficult to get together during the week.

"But the commitment and effort during games has been second to none.

"It's been a topsy-turvy season and for all our success I still don't think we've performed to our full potential.

"But I'm delighted with the way the lads have responded in adversity.

"We pulled a lot of games out of the bag right at the finish when most teams would have been dead and buried.

"To beat Warrington at home comfortably with 12 men was one of the highlights of the season, along with going to Wilderspool and getting a last-gasp draw, winning at Sheffield with 11 men and destroying Underbank in our rematch.

"Losing at home to Underbank was a low point when we didn't perform in the first half and were on the end of some despicable refereeing.

"And the two losses against Dudley Hill were disappointing, save from a 20 minute spell in the first game.

"We've shown enough that we can be a long term force to be reckoned with though.

"There is a lot of knowledge at the club that can be taken into the coaching side of things.

"And we are going to start up a youth section, which is one of the minimum future standards required by the league.

"The Rugby Football League has appointed a development officer for the North-east who is backing us as well and Active Sports have funded someone to work 20 hours a week and develop the game locally.